James was Assistant Chorus Master in the 2015/16 Season and during his tenure the Chorus has won both an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera and Best Chorus at the International Opera Awards, both in 2016. He recently conducted the UK premiere of Jonathan Dove’s The Day After for ENO Studio Live. He is the founder and principal conductor of his own orchestra, The Outcry Ensemble. He founded it in 2011 to play music by a living composer in every one of its concerts. Since then he has performed over twenty world premieres and worked with many of Britain’s best young composers, including Kate Whitley, Joel Rust, Freya Waley-Cohen, Laurence Osborn and Josephine Stephenson.

Forthcoming: This season he will assist Ryan Wigglesworth at the BBC Symphony Orchestra for Turnage’s The Silver Tassie and make his conducting debt with the Royal Orchestral Society and Salomon Orchestra. His conducting career highlights includes La bohème (ETO), Die Zauberflöte (Longborough Festival Opera, Garsington Opera) Dove’s Flight (Scottish Opera); as well as Chorus Master to Ivor Bolton for Monteverdi’s Orfeo (Bayerische Staatsoper), and Assistant Conductor to Mark Wigglesworth on titles including Owen Wingrave (Aldeburgh Festival), Jenufa (ENO) Elgar Symphony No. 1 and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time (BBC Proms).